Left 4 Dead 2is a zombie survival game that was developed by Valve. The game features seven different campaigns, including the campaignsfrom the originalLeft 4 Dead. Despite having fun campaigns and memorable characters,Left 4 Dead 2is also known for the mods and custom campaigns fans have made. Some campaign creators go above and beyond, creating custom skins for the infected and escape vehicles.
Some of the campaigns are simple, while others require the player to solve puzzles. New voice lines were recorded, adding to the setting of the campaign. By playing these custom campaigns, players are able to travel to other areas that have beenaffected by the Green Flu.
Updated July 21, 2025 by Erik Petrovich: Left 4 Dead 2 continues to be a mainstay in many gamers' replay cabinets, so to speak, and part of its staying power is the sheer number of L4D2 custom campaigns that are available to download. From the streets of a visually impressive rendition of San Francisco to a maddening crossover with Minecraft, there seems to be infinite potential in theLeft 4 Dead 2 modding community. This guide has been updated to include two classic campaigns – I Hate Mountains and Day Break. I Hate Mountains takes players out of the city to the mountains to deal with the undead in a completely non-urban setting, while Day Break is the opposite, taking players to several areas in and around San Francisco. This guide to the best L4D2 custom campaigns has also been updated to remove certain entries that are no longer available.
13I Hate Mountains
I Hate Mountains is one of the bestLeft 4 Dead 2custom campaigns because it’s one of the only custom campaigns that takes place exclusively in mountainous environments and tiny towns. You won’t see any ruined cityscapes in this four-part customL4D2campaign, but as its name implies, you’re not exactly going to be connecting with nature and singing camp songs in I Hate Mountains.
The creators of this nearly 10-year-old customL4D2campaign pushed the game to its limits and put thought into replayability, as every map has alternate paths to reach the end. Having been made many years after the release ofLeft 4 Dead 2, this is one of the best custom campaigns to see how far the game engine could be pushed.
Where To Get I Hate Mountains
TheI Hate Mountainscampaign can be downloaded from the Steam Workshop with no dependencies, but you will need to download all four parts (and ensure they are loaded in order) to prevent errors.
12Day Break
In contrast to the mountainous environments of I Hate Mountains, the Day Break campaign takes place in and around one of the United States' most iconic cities: San Francisco. There are five maps in this custom campaign, including areas of the city itself, the Lime Point Lighthouse, Alcatraz Island, and the Golden Gate Bridge itself.
The story begins as players are traveling over the city and crash land on top of the Day Break Hotel – the namesake of the campaign. Things quickly begin to get hectic as you realize that the military is going to bomb the city to contain the zombies, and your goal through all five maps is to simply escape San Francisco before you become an unfortunate casualty.
How To Get Day Break
TheDay Breakcustom campaign forLeft 4 Dead 2can be downloaded via the Steam Workshop. Though it was historically split into several parts, it now has no dependencies and can be installed bysubscribing to one file.
11Tank Challenge (& Tanks Playground)
These twoLeft 4 Dead 2Workshop campaigns feature simpleL4D2custom maps and a premise that’s as hard as it sounds. BothTank’s ChallengeandTank’s Playgroundchallenge players to survive increasingly difficult and increasingly numerous waves of Tanks and nothing but Tanks.
The Tank’s Challenge map is an offshoot of Tank’s Playground. Tank’s Playground tasks players to survive for 10 minutes, for a total of 13 to 15 Tanks to face down. Tank’s Challenge spawns one new Tank for every round – Round 1 spawns one, Round 4 spawns four, and so on until Round 10, in which a total 10 Tanks will spawn at once.
Where To Get Tank Challenge And Tank’s Playground
BothTank’s ChallengeandTank’s Playgroundcan be downloaded on the Steam Workshop without any dependencies or other compatibility mods required.
10The Bloody Moors
The Bloody Moors is a lengthy, multi-part campaign that tasks the survivors with making it through the moors of Yorkshire in England. It’s quite an atmospheric custom campaign, with gothic and eldritch themes that add to one of the best L4D2 maps on the Steam Workshop.
The Bloody Moorsis available on the Steam Workshop, though it is split into five separate parts. Be sure to download them all, and play them in order, to get the intended experience.
9A Variety Of Half-Life 2 Custom Levels
It’s no secret that some of Valve’s greatest hits all used the same engine - the Source engine - and many of the engine’s assetsmerge seamlessly between games. The gameGarry’s Modexemplified this by loading assets from installed Source games directly into the user spawn interface, but it goes a lot deeper thanGMod.
Fans ofHalf-Life 2and its two DLC episodes thusly ported over the level layouts for three separate areas into theLeft 4 Dead 2creator. These fully-fledged maps feature sights, sounds, and even NPCs from the classic FPS merged with the gameplay that theLeft 4 Deadseries is known for.
It’s worth noting that for most of theseHalf-Life 2mapsan additional texture modmust be installed.
Point Insertion
ThePoint Insertionlevel fromHalf-Life 2is one of the most recognizable opening areas from early 2000’s FPS games. It originally served as the place where Gordon Freeman enters City 17 through the train station and escapes the Combine to an apartment complex while constantly under the gaze of Dr. Breen on overhead monitors. TheLeft 4 Dead 2version of this level was taken directly fromHalf-Life 2and serves as a nostalgic (and terrifying) trek through one of the game’s most iconic locations.
Red Letter Day
Red Letter Dayis the level that immediately follows Point Insertion inHalf-Life 2and introduces the player to Alyx, Dr. Kleiner, Eli Vance, and of course Lamar. The level inLeft 4 Dead 2quickly whisks players through the secret lab area and into the following hectic chase through the Route Kanal, just like in the original game. Instead of the Combine, though, players will have to deal withLeft 4 Dead 2’s variety of zombie archetypes.
Route Kanal
Route Kanalis the level that immediately follows Red Letter Day, taking Gordon Freeman through canals and the urban landscape in a hectic sprint away from the Combine. The level appears inLeft 4 Dead 2almost unchanged, though there aren’t any Barnacles to trap and pull players to their death. Perhaps the Smoker serves as a decent (and much more dangerous) alternative.
Water Hazard
Water Hazardis the last of the five chapters from the originalHalf-Life 2that were modded for functionality withinLeft 4 Dead 2,making a significant portion of the original story playable in this new setting. Water Hazard takes the player on a speedy hover boat-based journey through swampland and urban marshes. Though the original level was a quick one inHalf-Life 2, Water Hazard is the hardest of the five chapters available inLeft 4 Dead 2.
City 17 (HL: E1)
The custom campaign ofCity 17allows players to fight through the familiar setting ofHalf-Life 2: Episode 1. The campaign starts at the train crash and ends when the player makes it to the train station, fighting through the underground and the hospital. While players might be used to zombies in theHalf-Lifeseries, they most likely won’t be used to zombies who can leap from rooftops or throw concrete at them. The campaign also caught the attention of Valve, who featured it on their blog.
8Suicide Blitz 2
Suicide Blitz 2 was featured ontheLeft 4 Deadblogon July 17, 2025. The campaign is unique, as it is full of Easter eggs, a custom tank model, and has the survivors travel through a city to a football stadium, and there is aHalf-Life2Easter egg which requires the player to carry a gnome from the beginning of the campaign to the last chapter.
The escape has the player fight through three tanks on the way to the helicopter. Afterward, there is a flyover of the stadium, which is then bombed by military jets.
All three parts of the Suicide Blitz 2 map can be found on theSteam Workshop. It has no prerequisites except that all three parts must be downloaded for the full experience.
7Helm’s Deep
Helm’s Deep is a survival map that takes players to Helm’s Deep fromLord of the Rings.The map was alsofeatured by Valveon June 09, 2025. This custom campaign allows players to survive against the hordes of the undead with their friends in the iconic fortress that served at the kingdom of Rohan’s last stand against the forces of Saruman.
Players are able to fight the horde through a familiar setting, adding a bit of fun to the game, and ithighlights the intrinsic funof surviving a zombie onslaught with—or against—friends. It might feel anachronistic to use guns in the fantasy setting of Helm’s Deep, but if roleplaying is important to you, you can always turn the difficulty down and go melee-only.
The Helms Deep map was actually originally made by theChivalryteam around the time of their modAge of Chivalrycame out. Though it was bugged for a while, a new version is available through theSteam Workshop.
6Warcelona
Warcelona takes players to Barcelona, Spain, where they can fight the infected in a brand new environment. According to the campaign’s creator, every setting in the map isbased 100% on a settingin Barcelona. The campaign also has a difficult finale, having players make their way through hordes of zombies to a helicopter.
The Warcelonacampaign was featuredby Valve on Jul 06, 2025. The campaign features zombies in soccer jerseys, making this campaign one of the few ones that have custom infected.
Like manyLeft 4 Dead 2custom maps, Warcelona is now available through bothGameMapsand theSteam Workshop, though its Steam page doesn’t give much of any details on what the custom campaign actually entails. The GameMaps page goes into detail on what to expect.
5Urban Flight
Urban Flight has players escape a burning city as they try to make their way to a military outpost. The finale has players finding eight gas cans so they can refuel a plane and escape. The finale also has a custom tank, which is seen in a military uniform.
Thecampaign feels similarto ones from the firstLeft 4 Dead, having players fight through a city and refuel a plane for escape. The campaign does offer a new setting, making it worth playing.
The Urban Flight L4D2 campaign is available through theSteam WorkshopandGameMaps, but players are highly encouraged to turn on the Instructor Hints after installation. In the Multiplayer Options menu, this option can be turned on and off, but it’s required to understand the “important crescendo and finale event.”
4Deathcraft II
Deathcraft II brings the world ofLeft 4 DeadtoMinecraft.The custom campaign has the players look blocky while fighting the zombies fromMinecraft,and it definitely puts a nice spin on both games. While it’s not technically aLeft 4 Dead2based campaign, it’s nonetheless worth playing for anyLeft 4 Deadfan.
There is also an Easter egg where, if the player brings a pumpkin from chapter one to chapter two, they can get an Eye of Ender. Bringing this to a portal in chapter three will allow the players to fight the Ender dragon, being rewarded with diamond swords.
Where To Get Deathcraft 2 Campaign
Like most custom L4D2 maps, the Deathcraft 2Left 4 Dead 2campaign is similarly available through both theSteam WorkshopandGameMaps. However, there are a total of seven parts, and all other addons must be disabled for Deathcraft 2 to work correctly.
